Love this club

Solano knows Peru commitments will hurt West Ham career

West Ham United midfielder Nobby Solano admits his World Cup commitments with Peru could wreck his chances of being a success at Upton Park.

He admits the energy-sapping long-haul flights are draining, but insists his country has to come first.

Solano said: "Playing in the World Cup is my dream and South Africa will be my last chance. It would be fantastic to end my career there.

"But it is hard because the games are so far away. The jet lag, the flying is very tiring and often you only land on the Friday morning, so you cannot play on the Saturday.

"The Brazilian and Argentine players are flown back by private jet because their whole squad plays in Europe, but we have to fly back on a 12-hour normal flight.

"It is difficult for the clubs but everyone feels proud to play for their country. It is so far away that you are going to miss games and it's been disappointing.

"Now I've just got to be patient, wait for my chance and take it when it comes."

Boss Alan Curbishley admits losing Solano - who missed two glaring headers in last week's goalless draw at Portsmouth - for so long already this season has been frustrating. He said: "As soon as he'd signed he had to go off to Peru for two weeks. Then he came back and had to go off again.

"He's only really got involved with us in the last two weeks. But we knew the situation when we signed him."